Universal Design for Learning

This collaborative project has been very interesting! Our group works very well together and when one has difficulty understanding the concept other fill in. This has been critical in this past week's assignment. The Universal Design for Learning looks at many different aspects of the planning process to ensure each learning style is met.

CAST, the Center for Applied Special Technology, assists in lesson building to ensure technology is used to address the learning styles of struggling or special needs students. According to their website, they look at ways to assist areas such as dyslexia, language barriers, emotional or behavior problems, lack of interest and physical disabilities.

By addressing each of these styles in our lesson we are making sure each student with special needs is met and can be successful. Different approaches were utilized in creating the lesson such as video presentations and graphics for students with hearing impairments. For students with visual impairments there were tactile opportunities so that they could feel as well as hear the concepts discussed.

Giving options in contributing to the end product will hopefully allow strengths and talents to emerge and spark interest in what the students are doing. Highly motivated and gifted students are paired with low achieving students in order to assist those struggling students.

As the lesson was prepared I made a point of addressing the different brain networks identified by CAST. These include the Recognition network, how facts are gathered; the Strategic network, or the planning and task performance; and the Affective networks, how students are engaged and interested. Each of these networks played a part in the overall lesson.

Web Conference Nov. 21

After dealing with some technical issues I was able to participate in the web conference though very limited. I started with my Mac thinking it was going to be easier with the integrated video and audio but that wasn't the case. When I switched to the PC I was able to access the site and request participation. I only listened as there were a lot of participants accessing it at the same time. Once there were more than eight or nine it was hard to follow the discussions. Everyone participating did a great job of allowing everyone else to share and some very good information was shared.

I like the idea of having the web conferences on a regular basis but I would also like to see if we could limit to those in our cohort. Some very good discussions have occurred lately with the direction of Creighton. I would like to see if it's possible to create a web conference for our group.

Final Thoughts on PSA

It's interesting to see how our project changed over the few weeks we were working on it. From the beginning when we were brainstorming topic ideas to the final product it was a collaborative effort amongst our group. It was nice to see the professionalism of our group come through in this project. As Randy Nelson said in his address as Pixar dean, "accept all offers". This was evident in how we worked together as a group. Everyone had equal say in the direction of the project. Collaborating online was a bit sporadic at times but when we needed to get together we were able to.The shots we ended up using were chosen out of a great deal of video taping. It was surprising how much ended up on the 'editing floor'. Having divided the video taping process and everyone taking a turn editing them, I think we were able to come to a good final product when Jessica took the final editing. Having one person do this final editing made for a smooth final video. Also being able to use family members for the shots helped a great deal when it came to finding talent. Props were minimal in that we only looked at fast food and activities around the house to emphasize the ease of our PSA recommendations. Converting the final video to .wmv made uploading it to the web and visible with a standard free player such as Windows Media Player.

Photostory Video Project

I have to admit this was pretty fun. I can imagine the fun the students will have when they are able to create a montage of images and add narration and music to it. The only difficult part was having a collection of images that I could use. This may be a problem for students as well. I am sometimes uncomfortable with the students using images from Google images. This is there first thought when given anything to do with images. Trying to get them to more appropriate image sites is sometimes difficult.This is certainly a place where copyright should be taught.